"The decision of government to increase the Neem Coated Urea production to 100% from the earlier 35% is believed to be a significant step for the farmers of the country" says Mr. Sham Lal Goyal, Joint Secretary in Fertilizer Ministry.
In an interview with Krishi Jagran, Mr. Goyal spoke about the benefits and usage of Neem Coated Urea and discussed about it in detail. Mr. Goyal also told to the team that generally the high usage of Urea reduces the fertility of the land. In Initial years, it may higher the production of crops but simultaneously affects the production capacity of the land and after successive years, farmers get low production.
Read the excerpts from the interaction…
Is there any particular difference in Plain urea and Neem Coated Urea?
Yes, there is a lot of difference in Neem coated urea and the Plain one. In Neem coated urea, they put a layer of neem over the plain urea that increases the land fertility capacity that leads to the higher production of crops.
The oil coating of neem in Neem coated urea mixes up slowly with the land and the crops soaks it according to the need. The unwanted urea washed away with the water or gets diluted in the air as nitrogen. If the farmer uses Non- Neem coated urea i.e the Normal urea or Plain urea, the maximum unit of the manure is left unused.
How about the prices of both types? Is there any difference?
The Non-Neem coated urea in the market is available at the price of Rs.330 per kg with additional 5% in the price of Neem coated urea which is the cost of neem coating itself. It includes 1% of central trade charges and every state implies VAT as per their standards. The maximum VAT is in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
How does the farmers get the relevant information about the urea usage and from where?
The Fertilizer Ministry arranges the meetings or conferences frequently where the information regarding the appropriate use of Plain urea and Neem coated urea is given.
Every year, how many tons of urea are needed in the country?
India is always in the need of urea. In 2014-2015, the total consumption of urea was about 313.34 lakh metric tonnes. Apart from that, 87.49 lakh metric tonnes of urea was imported and rest was produced in India itself.
Indian Government imports urea from the countries like China, Asia, Iran, Australia.
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